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Black English:

Detention Camp Without Walls

The case for Black English seems to be built on the premise that all of the problems of teaching poor black children to read are due to the fact that the "black dialect" has not received due recognition in that it is viewed as bad and the language problem it creates is pathological in nature. The proponents of Black English go on to say that the child cannot communicate, or rather the system cannot validate his ability to communicate because he is not allowed to use the language he speaks at home as is the case with white children.

This, as I see it, is an oversimplification and as with most oversimplifications, falls into the "tunnel vision" trap.

The educator seems to be seeking rationalization of his own inability and rather than engaging in the painful, ego-threatening process of self evaluation, he jumps on one singular aspect of the poor black child's life style and attributes all problems, solutions, and hope for the future on it.

Philosophically, this is contrary to whatever theory of the "nature of man" one is given to accept since a commonality among them deals with the complexity of the human—the physical, emotional, psychological, social, intellectual, and spiritual aspects of his being—and the interrelatedness of these. Further, because Black English has somehow been incorporated into the now popular "nation-time" phenomena criticism of it is viewed as something short of heresy. If Black English is the panacea it is purported to be, one would think that critical examination would be welcomed because such a panacea would surely withstand any evaluation—if it is valid.

Perhaps at this point, it is well and interesting to note that the parents of poor black children are not the proponents of it, but rather one finds it is middle and upper class whites and blacks who speak from a position of at least one set of letters behind their names and usually more.

Now let us look at Black English relative to the black child: How will it help him? It will help him learn to read right now (or perhaps I should say "rat now"). Does it indeed? If behavior is not modified, has learning taken place? It would appear that what happens with utilization

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